Sinister Synthetics

Android Hunter-Killer Team
15 mm

Ja tvoi sluga, ja tvoi rabotnik

Sigh. I remember the good old days, when a google search for "killer robots" led to popular movies, and not news articles...

These Khurasan figures are ostensibly "police bots", but I think adding skull masks gave them a really menacing military look.

Huey and Dewey

Horticultural droids
15 mm scale

Back to 15mm for a bit here, with a quick couple of GZG robots...

When you're a scientist on an ecological preserve ship in space who's mutinied against orders to destroy your cargo, murdered your crewmates, and set off for the rings of Saturn, sometimes it's handy to have a few mechanical sidekicks along to help with the gardening:

"Not wargaming"?  The battle against aphids NEVER ends!

 Obviously, these are not- versions of the funny little bots from "Silent Running" (1972):

Kind of hokey, kind of preachy, VERY 70's, but still surprisingly enjoyable...

Poe's Law

Edgar Allan Poe
28 mm

Out- out are the lights- out all!
And, over each quivering form,
The curtain, a funeral pall,
Comes down with the rush of a storm,
While the angels, all pallid and wan,
Uprising, unveiling, affirm
That the play is the tragedy, "Man,"
And its hero the Conqueror Worm.

I learned a lot about Poe doing the (unnecessary) research for this figure.  I read stories like "The Cask of Amontillado" and "The Telltale Heart" in school, and I'd certainly hope any North American with a TV is familiar with his Gothic poem "The Raven".  His financial struggles would be unsurprising to anyone familiar with the publishing industry.  But I did not know that he was in the army, or that his story The Murders in the Rue Morgue was the first modern detective story, or that when he was 27 he married his 14-year -old cousin...

As I posted earlier, this is another excellent figure from the Bears Head Miniatures Kickstarter.  It's obviously based on the well-known portraits from later in Poe's life, with impressive accuracy.  I doubt he regularly carried a skull and raven about town, but I think the figure really captures Poe's literary character very well.

"Howard, I know they said we could bring a pet, but I brought, well, a bird..."

Scribe of the Unspeakable

H.P. Lovecraft
28 mm

This Bears Head miniature was a real pleasure to paint!  Part literary caricature, part dramatic fictional character, it's an excellent sculpt, crisp and dynamic.  Waving his unholy idol and clutching his dog-eared copy of the Necronomicon, the author unleashes the creative process on an unsuspecting world...

I learned a few new things about Lovecraft in the painting process, like his hair colour, for which I had to consult professional Lovecraft impersonator Leeman Kessler, as no colour photographs of the author seem to exist.  I've always enjoyed Lovecraft's lurid works, and despite his personal shortcomings and the fact that many of his creations have reached the status of self-parody in recent fandom, I truly think he was a man of remarkable imagination who contributed a lot to the fantasy, horror and SF genres.

Late night rites at the Miskatonic University library...

Masters of Horror

To my great excitement, these two figures just arrived from the Bears Head Miniatures Gallery Series Kickstarter.  There are a lot of nice offerings in this KS; I appreciated the variety and the impressive sculpting mojo.  But I managed to restrain myself and buy only two figures:

That's right! Edgar Allan Poe and HP Lovecraft, two of the most notable writers in the history of horror fiction, and so far the only authors in my collection.  At least until someone does a miniature of Margaret Atwood, that is.  I want to try and paint HPL (the "cultist" version, the "mythos investigator" was a surprise bonus!) as soon as I can, I have a fun idea for him. But I won't let Poe languish under the floorboards with my lead pile, either...

Short Rounds

Dwarf Mercenary and Goblin Tank Ace
15mm scale

This couple of diminutive but tough guys have been on deck at my painting table for a while.  Fun quick paint jobs, and full of their own character; one a high-tech power-armoured warrior, the other a leather-helmeted trench fighter with a jaunty scarf.  The dwarf is a Khurasan figure, while the greenskin is from Ion Age's Malig range.

"Guys?  Guys?  I could really use air support right about now..."

I have a couple of really impressive 28mm figures coming soon from the Bear's Head Miniatures Kickstarter, they're done casting now so I'm hoping to see them show up within the month...

Outer Planets Operative

Asteroid Belt Spacer
28 mm

Oye!  Kewe kowlting ando go, welwala?  Wa koming gut da Belte!

My wife and I have been catching up on the amazing SyFy show "The Expanse" for a few months now.  Well-written, and its super-hard-SF style, solidly based on some pretty good novels, is something really refreshing among what tends to be fairly sloppy televised SF.

This nicely detailed and expressive figure is from Space Bunny Arts.  I added his "Belter fringe" hair, with colour inspired by my colleague @katafacepainting, and style loosely based on the show's Detective Joe Miller:

Beltalowda gonya leva xox!